You’re probably familiar with the song White Christmas but are you familiar with the 1954 movie musical of the same name?
Starring Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, Rosemary Clooney and Vera-Ellen, the timeless classic tells the story of a song-and-dance duo who joins forces with a sister act to help save their former squad commander’s failing business.
The all-singing, all-dancing extravaganza boasts a massive array of wonderful musical numbers but one of them will go down as the funniest scene of that era.
Without giving anything away, the men go to see the sisters perform their song ‘Sisters’ at a fancy event but later in the evening, they have to help them escape the building without getting caught. (It’s a long story!)
To do so, Crosby and Kaye decide to cause a distraction so great that no one will notice the ladies exit. The result is comedy gold.
Here is the original version of the song as sung by Rosemary Clooney (Fun fact: she actually dubs Vera-Ellen’s line as well!)
Also, if Rosemary (on the left) is reminding you of anyone, it’s worth noting that she’s the aunt of ER heartthrob, Oscar-winner and all-round good-guy, George Clooney!
But I digress.
Now that you’ve seen the original, here’s the version by Crosby and Kaye. In the scene you can see the lads skitting and laughing.
Apparently, despite numerous takes, they were unable to keep straight faces and the result is the ‘best take’ they got, which still contains mistakes from Crosby and a whole lot of the guys cracking up!
But you know what? In the end it works even better because it adds to the authenticity of the moment and shows how much fun the actors were having!
If you enjoyed that, check out the entire movie – it’s a treat!